Theoretical-literary considerations about the role of oral narration today

Abstract

This article reflects on a group of theoretical and literary references that we consider useful to an approach to oral narration as a poetic possibility and artistic form in the contemporary cultural scene. To choose these references, all of which are classics in various fields of narrative studies, we considered their possible relevance to debates in empirical contexts where stories are studied and told in Brazil today. We indicate the importance of the concepts of verbal art and performance (Richard Bauman and Paul Zumthor), the relation between narrative and cultural memory (Lyotard) and the opening to the emergence of new narratives suggested by Ricoeur, Kearney, Didi-Huberman and Gagnebin in their discussions based on Walter Benjamin’s classic essay “The Storyteller.” The paper concludes by affirming the singularity of the role of oral narration in the mediations required by the complex contemporary cultural web. It seeks to contribute to the valorization of practices such as storytelling, which has a growing presence in Brazilian schools and other cultural spaces, and support the establishment of increasingly higher ethical-aesthetic standards for research in this field.